The Little Mermaid, Rukia!
by 713none of your business713
Summary: Rukia, a mermaid and princess of the Kuchiki Kingdom, is caught in a storm and gets lost. She finds Kon and the two of them follow a passing ship to the Kurosaki Kingdom. Two or maybe even more worlds collide as the threat of hallows rise! I don't own Bleach...(I took out Chp. 5's preview. The actual chapter 5 is still there...)
1. Chapter 1

The Little Mermaid, Rukia!

Chapter 1 –

"Deep, down in a great and large ocean stood the Kuchiki palace. The mighty king, Byakuya, ruled this palace and its lands. He had a very loving wife, Hisana. Although Hisana died before they had any children, she left him with Rukia, her little sister. Since Byakuya took Rukia in as an adopted child, Rukia will one day rule it after him. They say that Byakuya, Hisana, and Rukia all had special gifts. Rukia had the voice of a true angel. She could lure anybody without even realizing it."

"Wow, Ichi-nii! She must be really beautiful too! I wish I could see her and their kingdom someday." The little girl's eyes sparkled as she dreamed of seeing the princess Rukia. Her light brown, almost blonde, hair came down to her neck like her sister's. Her brother smiled at the two girls beside him.

"Don't count on it Yuzu. Those fairy tales aren't real. Even if they were, why would any 'mermaid' come here? I'm sure the sea they live in is so much prettier."

"Well, even if a mermaid exists and comes or not, you two need some sleep. I need it too. I'm going with father on another trip to the Annacar Kingdom. It seems that the old man and Aizen are arguing again. It'll only take a few days though. Be good while we're gone, okay?" Ichigo set the book of sea legends into the bedside drawer. The girls were saddened a little but put brave faces on so that their brother wasn't saddened by them.

"Hai, Ichi-nii!" the two girls responded at the same time. Their smiles reached Ichigo but he knew better. He did take care of them as much as his parents and the nannies. Ichigo hugged them both. He wished them a good night as they wished him a safe trip. Afterwards, Ichigo reported to his bedroom. Chad, Ichigo's dog, happily greeted him. Ichigo wished him a good night too and patted his head. Chad's head hair which was dark brown, unlike the lighter brown fur of his body, covered his eyes usually. He was founded by Ichigo four years ago, when Ichigo was twelve. Ichigo was his best friend. The dog stayed silent as usual and joined Ichigo on the bed. His coin shaped tag on his collar chimed quietly. Tomorrow will be a long day.

With that, the two went to sleep. Soon, they would board the ship to attend another meeting. Now that Ichigo is sixteen, his father, Isshin Kurosaki, worries about the kingdom's future king. What was a king without a queen? How will Ichigo ever have an heir? Certainly, there will be a queen. Not only for Ichigo, but also for the kingdom. Misaki, Ichigo's mother, was a great influence on the people. Many allies as well as close friends were made thanks to her and so the kingdom probably needs another kind queen to look after them while Ichigo is being king. Isshin prayed for his kigdom's futur. There must be someone who will fit the job!

*************************************************************************************Author's Note: Hmm… Should I continue?


	2. Chapter 2 Level Up

Author's Note: Japanese is used…

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

* * *

Chapter 2 – Level Up

Renji the crab man crawled as fast as he could to keep up with the little mermaid. Like most crab men, he was merman the waist up, and crab the waist down. Puny bubbles bombarded him and his vision, but he tried.

"Rukia~! Ru-ki-a!" he called out. The bubbles died down a little. He could now see Rukia's short, midnight black hair. She came to a stop and turned to the crab man.

"Hurry you buffoon! Ukitake-sensei is waiting!" she glared at Renji. Her deep violet eyes refocused on the path ahead of her. Once again, she sped towards the palace, her violet fish tail flapping at full speed, where her brother would see the results of her training. In order to rule the Kuchiki Kingdom of the sea, Rukia has to be strong, as strong as her brother. She had a long way to go. She's already fifteen and doesn't know her sword's name yet. When Byakuya was her age, he could already do bankai. Renji fallowed her. As one of her tutors and friend he had to attend. Hopefully, the king would be pleased with her progress.

The palace was now coming into sight. The two dodged the stores, underwater farms, homes of other sea creatures and the creatures themselves. A giant castle that was covered in coral reefs, shells, and seaweed stood in the center of the kingdom. Rukia swam to one of the top floors to where her brother's throne room was. Hopefully, he wasn't there yet... How would anyone like having a ruler that was late to important events? Surely, no one. Her brother detested lateness too. Rukia didn't want to fail him. Inside the giant room were guards. They lined a path to two thrones. The first throne was made out of molded gold; pearls; giant, rare shells; and gems of all kinds. The second was to the right of the first and was almost as beautiful. No one had taken the first throne. Ukitake, a powerful merman, occupied the second, though. He was a great strategist for his own kingdom's army. He had been one of Rukia's teachers since he and Byakuya were close.

Suddenly, the double doors of the huge room opened. In swam Byakuya with two more guards. His long, black hair trailed behind him like his hiori, slightly floating right off his back. His tail was just as sliver and shiny as his kenseikan. His eyes were as cold and grey as always. His overall aura of the highest royalty and power was strong. He even had the fighting skills and sword to prove it. All the guards bowed. Rukia and Renji also bowed and greeted him into the room.

"Good afternoon, nii-sama."

"Good afternoon, tono."

Byakuya nodded and signaled for Rukia, then Renji, and finally all of the guards to stop bowing. Ukitake gave him a nod and greeted him.

"Byakuya-kun, you look busy as always." Ukitake said with a sincere smile. Since Byakuya grew up in the same kingdom as Ukitake when Ukitake was only a general, they were very close. Ukitake would often visit the Kuchiki manor. He had seen Byakuya grow from a baby, all the way until Byakuya was old enough to start his own kingdom with his new wife, Hisana. Although, that didn't stop Ukitake from visiting. "My, you and Rukia look so a like now! She also looks strong like you too." Rukia smiled and blushed. Since her brother was one of the most powerful mermen, Ukitake's comment was like being called a god! Ever since she was able to convince her brother to let her practice military arts, Ukitake took her as his student. Byakuya only allowed since it was Ukitake, though.

"Hello, Ukitake-san. Is something wrong? I believe this is when you are usually out on missions."

"No, no. Not at all Bya-kun. I actually wanted to show you something. Rukia, if you will." Rukia stepped forward. Taking a deep breath and stern face she turned toward her brother.

"Nii-sama, my sword skills have improved as well as my spells." Rukia started feeling shaky unknowing of how her brother would react. Would he be impressed or expectant of more? "I have also learned flash step..." She stuttered out. She waited for her brother to respond.

She swore a year passed by...

"Rukia." her brother finally started. "I believe you have now learned the four basic combat skills for the military. Your rank shall be raised if Ukitake approves." Byakuya said. He had his mask of emotionlessness on but Ukitake smiled knowingly. Little Bya-kun is so proud of his little sister. Rukia's face softened into that of the surprised. Ukitake noticed and smiled even more. Rukia would now be closer to being third in command in Ukitake's squad!

Rukia and Renji were given a new assignment.

'Rukia, since you are now third in command, I'd like to boost your mission levels. Nothing too different from your last level. Just a higher risk of danger. Because you proved well in combat and escaping, I don't think it'll be too hard. Be on guard at all times just in case.' Ukitake's words were kept clear in the little mermaid's head. There was no way that she would let Ukitake or her brother down. Rukia and Renji were now heading towards a giant, sunken ship. It was unlike anything she had seen before. The craftsmanship of humans had amazed her. Never once had Rukia been able to go onto land or any other environment than the sea. Yet humans had figured out how to travel across something than their own homeland. What else could they do? Fly? Breathe underwater? Create artificial life?

"It's really big, huh?" Renji looked over to Rukia and found her just gaping at the ship with sparkles in her eyes. It had seaweed and barnacles all over it. Coral reefs entangled in it. This was nothing like the palace though... The ship looked menacing. Its rust and broken parts gave it a dark, gloomy look. Truthfully, Renji wasn't excited about exploring the ship unlike Rukia...

"Don't just stand there. Let's go." Rukia was already slipping into the ship by one of the torn gaps of the metal. She disappeared into the shadows. Renji soon followed.

"Ukitake sensei said to dispose of any dangerous items. Weapons, anything explosive, etc... I think some fish are planning to modify the ship into a home." Rukia said as she swam through a hall way. Pictures still hung on the wall or were on the floor. Rukia was careful not to touch their broken glass. One of the pictures was of a quite beautiful woman. She had orange hair and an expensive looking dress on. On top of her head was a small crown. Rukia guessed the ship belong to someone very rich. Probably the lady in picture. Next to the picture was some kind of small, silver stick that was split at one end into four more sticks. The end with four sticks was stabbed into the picture's wooden frame. Rukia pulled it out and examined it.

Renji on the other hand had traveled into a small room. It had a bed and desk. A chair was in several pieces. He traveled through more rooms by another door in the first, the one with the broken chair. He was now in a fourth room. It was bigger than the others. It had three doors including the door that he came through. A huge square thing was trashed. It had wood framing it. Renji couldn't tell what it was. A painting lied on the square. It looked like a family but it had slashes that took out any chance of identifying who the people were.

'_swoosh_'

Renji swung around. Nothing was there.

"Rukia? Rukia!" Renji called out to her for a couple of minutes. There was no response. He kept turning around, trying to see if there was anyone or thing moving. He soon found himself facing another square thing but this one was thinner and taller. Renji touched a fancy metal thingy. It did nothing... He pushed it. Nothing... He tugged it. It responded by a box, which was attached to the metal thingy, slipping out every time Renji pulled. Soon it wouldn't come out any more. Inside the box was a bunch of knick kna-

'_swoosh_' Renji, startled, swung around more alert than last time. Nothing...again... Now he was frustrated. He swam out one of the doors.

"Hello?! Show yourself!" Suddenly he saw a shadow out of the corner of his eye. He dashed towards it and passed through another set of doors and hallways. He found Rukia again just looking around calmly. She carried a seaweed bag filled all the way to the top, causing her to have to drag it.

"Ne, ne, Rukia... Did you just come out of that hallway?" He pointed a thumb the way he came.

"Huh? Nope." Once she saw what Renji was pointing to, she went back to her mission. A flash of grey caught her attention. She didn't freak out though. She just started towards it. Renji was too busy looking back the way he came to notice the flash and Rukia's disturbance.

"Are you sure? I could have sworn that I saw something... Maybe there's someone here. I fallowed it and that's how I came here but once I got here I lost it... So... Rukia?" Renji saw here wonder off into another hallway with a stern look. He fallowed getting the message.

"Renji." He responded with a serious look to match her atmosphere.

"Got it."

The two held their swords in front of them. They crept slowly across the hallway and into a huge room. It was bigger than the one with the knick knack box. You could probably fit a giant squid in it. The floor was ripped from the ground into walls that didn't reach the ceiling. Maybe that was from the crash... The actual walls were not as bad as the floor. Everything was rusty and trashed. Hundreds of pieces of junk, that used to be who knows what, dotted the sandy or metal sea ground.

"I can feel it now."

"Me too."

'SCREECH!' A shadow came from behind a wall. It was a skeleton shark. They are beasts of the sea. It's like they don't have a heart or mind. They feed off of about anything. They aren't sharks but the first few that ever popped up since ever since were said to look like sharks. They also have holes where their heart is... Er… used to be. The sad part is that they used to be normal sea creatures. But once a sea creature is overfilled with hatred or eaten by another skeleton shark they become this: a powerful, heartless, beast that can only do one thing... Kill to eat/survive. This is what Ukitake meant by keeping their guards up.

The first one to charge was the shark. It's bone like skin glowed with power. Rukia dodged and swam to the side of it. Renji lifted his sword and slashed it down hard. The shark stepped back. Its leg was almost cut in half. The screeched in pain again as Rukia came forward. The shark failed to notice her come and slash its arm. Renji then put the final blow. He plunged his sword into the shark's face, and then cut it in half. A final screech, the shark fell to the ground and disintegrated to dust. Rukia and Renji sighed.

"That skel shark had a strong arua. It probably just ate. Let's go before more show up." Renji said. He sheathed his sword and started crawling through a tear in a wall. Just as Rukia started fallowing she became stiff. Panic flew into her.

"Renji!" He was already outside. Rukia could hear him yell to her not to come out. A loud thump could be heard and another skeleton shark came through the wall, completely destroying it. It was way bigger than the last. A heard of small sharks came up behind the giant. They all screeched making Rukia wince. She was smacked into a wall next to a door. After struggling to crawl through the door she regained some strength and swam. Her tail, arm, and head were aching from the impact of hitting the wall. She tried flash stepping but didn't get far. The screeching behind her was getting louder. She looked back to see about fifteen small sharks gaining on her. With her sword arm still aching she used her other hand. It wasn't as good but she was able to slice the head of one of the sharks that came close enough to literally bite her back. As she looked forward another four sharks appeared from a room. Rukia did her best swinging her sword at them. She only managed to knock them out of her way.

Renji was having just as hard of a time as Rukia. He wasn't hurt bad but he was surrounded by annoying, small skeleton sharks. They kept charging at him. The number of sharks seemed to be infinite. Once he cleared enough area around himself he flash stepped away from the heard. A game of cat and mouse was played as he tried getting back into the ship to Rukia. Him being the mouse.

Rukia found herself back where she left her seaweed bag. She swam to it and threw a whole bunch of stuff to the sharks. She ran off again with the bag that was emptied a little. She kept throwing stuff at the sharks. She was finally close to a big opening in a wall that lead to the outside of the ship.

"Ahhhhh!" Rukia screamed. A shark had gotten a hold of her hair and yanked her back. Other sharks caught up and attacked her. They swarmed all around her, biting her, clawing her, and screeching. She was too weak to get her sword that she had put back into the holder that hung on her belt. Her hand was then grabbed and she was being pulled away from the sharks. Renji flash stepped but was blocked by the giant shark. It screeched and swung its claws at him. Renji tried dodging but after a while he got weak. Rukia was slipping from his grasp. This time Renji dodged barely but Rukia didn't make it. She flew from his grasp toward the water's surface and was perused by the small sharks. They kept attaching her, pushing her to the surface even more. The higher they went, the stronger the currents became. Rukia was still conscious but was ready to pass out. She felt her head being light as air. She couldn't even tell if the sharks were still there. Her body was so numb... She opened her eyes. The sharks weren't there. More panic drove out the numbness. She could now feel a current. It seemed to get stronger by the second. She still couldn't get her tail to move without the pain messing up where she went. She could now see the surface of the water.

It was a storm.

The current turned into violent waves that shoved Rukia into other waves that tried shoving her back. She became dizzy. Just then did she notice pain coming from her head. She reached for it and caught some kind of stick. It wouldn't come out of her hair. Unintentionally she grabbed it when another wave crashed into her. She was finally pushed to the surface.

The sky was a dark navy blue/grey. Waves were supposed to be white but because of the sky, it was grey and blue too. Rukia saw something stand out in the endless sea. It was brown, almost black, and was somewhat thin. Another wave blocked her vision. After it disappeared, she saw the thing again. It stayed above the water with the exception of some water sliding over it. Rukia was then shoved by the waves again. She got closer to the thing and reached for it. She needed some way of getting out of there and she couldn't use her tail. That thing was her way out.

She was getting closer and closer. Once she was at the thing she stabbed the stick she found in her hair into it. The thing was a board of some kind. Rukia had never seen this before... It had swirls and lines for patterns. It felt like a bunch of really thin strings piled up into straight lines. It was about as long as her arm and as wide as her back. Another wave crashed into her. She gripped onto the board and was able to stay afloat.

It felt like hours. She held onto the board to her best ability. She tried waiting out the storm since her tail didn't seem to heal.

。・°°・(＞_＜)・°°・。

* * *

Rukia looked around. It seems that she knocked out during the storm and was carried here by the waves. It was a cave. It opened out to the ocean. Huge and deep, it had a very mysterious aura. But it was also very beautiful. The rocky floor was wet and slippery. Rukia spotted a pool of water farther into the cave and started crawling to it. The pool was just deep enough to fit Rukia's tail and stomach. After getting comfortable, she looked around some more. The Weather was way better. A clear sky and smooth waves flowed out around the cave. She felt a little safer besides that fact that her tail might be broken. As she examined the cave, her violet eyes caught something sparkling.

* * *

Author's Note: Just in case some of you get lazy and skip through parts, missing important stuff, I'll put summaries at the end of each chapter… I get lazy too…

* * *

Summary:

Basically, Rukia and Renji rush to the Kuchiki palace. Rukia tells Byakuya about her improvements then gets promoted by Ukitake. She and Renji are given a new mission that takes them to a sunken ship. They find skeleton sharks, outnumbered, and are injured. Rukia knocks out, gets caught above the water in a storm. Renji is injured and flees. Rukia wakes up in a cave with a badly injured tail.


	3. Chapter 3 New

Author's Note: Hmm… I guess I didn't tell you guys about the settings. This story takes place around the time from the original "The Little Mermaid" from Disney. Rukia and the sea peeps will be dressed like nobles from Japan and Ichigo's peeps will be suited in European styles. BUT there will be modern clothes. A bunch of punks are coming, and being the rebels they are, they'll have the modern teenaged look. You know… skinny or baggy jeans, shirts that show a lot of skin, and what not… Other characters might dress this way too… Hmmm… I'll spoil these guys and put in modern tech too… I know, I know. I wanted to put up a second part to the story. I'm sure you guys will figure it out!

* * *

Chapter 3 – New

Everybody smiled. The town loved her! Such a beauty... Such kindness... Her skills in the medical department were highly adored too! No wonder almost everyone fell for her. Ever since her arrival a year ago, people could hardly believe that some like her would come here. Nobody was able to ignore her, the great Orihime!

Orihime walked and greeted all the townsfolk. Her orange hair shined as much as her silvery grey eyes and flower hair clips sparkled. She wore a light green and orange dress plus a sun hat.

"Good morning, Orihime-chan! How are you on this lovely day?" A baker was out with his stand of goods. He, like many others, was close to Orihime. He took out some bread and wrapped it while they talked.

"Very good! And how are- Oh, you don't have to do that. I have money now." Orihime tried to decline the free bread but failed. He had provided her food when she first came and every time she would come by the stand. Most days were like this. People would provide for her and she would provide medicine. Orihime didn't use regular medicine. She was a witch and used her powers. One thing that people didn't know was how powerful she is. They didn't know her family line or anyone from her past... But that's ok! She's going to tell them soon... She just needs to stay away from her past a little more before she remembers the... That night...

_'It was dark and cold outside-'_

NO!

Orihime shut her eyes and kept walking. Sweat started beading her face, her pupils shrunk, and her whole body froze... But for only a minute. Orihime was getting good at stopping the flash backs. She couldn't stand that she was still upset about that. Here she was droning on about her misery when others, even if she didn't know them, had gone through harder and still got over it.

"Oi, Orihime!" Something pushed Orihime's head and snapped her out of it. There stood Tatsuki stood in front of her. Her light brown eyes looked questioning. Her purplish black hair was its usual spiky locks.

Tatsuki was Orihime's first friend on the island. After Orihime arrived she went into town. At the time a bunch of high school punks were roaming the streets. Orihime knew no one and was unfortunate to be confronted by the leader.

！(◎_◎;)

* * *

An orange haired chick walked along the side walk. The streets were busy as people strolled the venders and stores or just walking. The peaceful and happy atmosphere dimmed into a very cautious one. Orihime noticed and stopped like everyone else. Heads turned toward one end of the street. She caught sight of a group of teens. Either wearing too baggy or too tight clothes, the teens walked differently from the rest of the town folks. Each had a special look. All had the 'I'm too bad ass and out of your league' smirk.

Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）

The group started splitting up and confronted the townsfolk. A guy with a whole lot of muscle, about Orihime's height, found his way to her. Orihime gulped.

Three teens surrounded a baker and his cart. It looked like they were trying to get some 'free' bread. The baker probably gave in because of the knives each teen took out. Some teens stayed in the center of the street, walking slowly as if they owned the place.

From what the looks of it, they could have.

A little kid who was too innocent to notice all the quiet drama kept his place at the center of the road. He was opening a popsicle from its napkin. Everyone else, however, moved to the sides for the gang. A girl came rushing toward the boy; she looked a little, maybe a year, older. She grabbed the boy's hand and tried to get off the road.

"Too late," a teenaged girl from the gang sneered. She grabbed the popsicle and harshly shoved the boy's head to the ground. Then she kicked the girl to the sides. Gasps erupted as a purple haired girl caught the little girl.

"Haven't you learned any manners? Kicking someone smaller than you is pretty low," Tatsuki helped the boy up and make sure that the kids got away safely.

"Oh, Tatsuki! How _nice_ to see you." The teen gangster batted her eyes, put on a smile, and lifted her eyebrows like she all of a sudden was Tatsuki's best and dearest friend. "Looks like you've been working out again. Tell me: do you have no boyfriend because of how unfeminine you are? Gosh, if I didn't know better, I'd think you were a guy." She gestured to Tatsuki's body. Due to her dedication to martial arts, her muscles grew, belly got slimmer, but curves were out of the question. A chest? And butt? Those probably won't exist on her, but she didn't mind. As long as she was able to kick this chick's ass she'd be perfectly fine.

Tatsuki started closing the gap between the two. The gangster's smirk and proud stance started dropping. Not too long did they come right back up. The teen crossed her arms and smirked even harder to Tatsuki's question. She then notices the teen looking behind her and spun around. The boss of the gangsters stood behind the orange haired Orihime. He had her arms pinned to her sides with just one of his arms while his free hand held a pocket knife to her neck.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you. You know how I have a crave for blood when there's drama." He said. The teenaged, gangster girl snickered. The blade was being pressed into Orihime's neck. Pain stabbed her, signaling her that blood was now drawn. She couldn't help but close her watery eyes and gulp.

_'THWACK'_

Another little girl appeared. She had thrown an ice-cream cone at the boss's head. He was now blinded by the mint chocolate chip ice-cream. Out of natural instinct he dropped the knife and started wiping the dessert off his face. Orihime dropped to her knees and tried running away. Unfortunately, her ground long skirt made it hard to do so. Tatsuki ran to her aid. With Orihime on her back, she fled from the scene. On her way out she saw the little girl partly hidden in the crowd. She winked and disappeared again. Tatsuki could only see the top, pink colored headed girl run behind a man. Since gang members were now running after Tatsuki, she couldn't afford to thank the little girl.

o(^▽^)o

* * *

Ever since, Tatsuki has been Orihime's best friend. The new comer and manly outcast soon became two of the most popular girls of the town. Two of the most loved too.

The two friends were walking for a minute now. During Orihime's flash back, Tatsuki had been going on about her upcoming tournament. Being one of the very few girls who were participating, she had to get a high rank to show how much skills girls had in the sport. Whatever a guy can do, a girl can too! That was Tatsuki's motto and she, unknowingly, made it VERY clear to anyone that knew her.

* * *

Byakuya had a hard time digesting the situation.

"I'm sorry. I was able to escape into a cave and hide until they left. I tried multiple times to search for her when I healed. There was no trace of her, not at the ship or anywhere else."

How could he be so stupid?

"I even sent out search parties to patrol a five mile radius circle around the sunken ship. There are still no signs or reports."

Byakuya now had proof that he was a complete idiot. Letting his sister go out there with only one other person?! How could he not be an idiot?! Rukia was now missing, probably on her own and dealing with predators! And exactly what was with the skeleton sharks? How did Rukia and Renji not sense them?

Renji studied his king carefully. By the scowl that was deeper than usual, Byakuya must have been thinking about how to kill Renji. Rukia would probably kill Renji too for failing to save her.

・°°・(＞_＜)・°°・

"Byakuya." Ukitake was there too. He stood next to Renji, facing Byakuya. "I have just checked the ship. There were no traces of the sharks at all. But there were still few still nesting there. I couldn't sense them at all. There was no giant shark like the one that attached Rukia though. If Rukia was hit by something that size, she could have been severely injured. Even her tail would be nonfunctional for a few days. She could easily be captured."

"What about the skills she learned? Won't those be any use to her?" Byakuya said calmly but a little tint of uneasiness showing.

"They will but until Rukia is able to use her tail, we will have to go find her. Hopefully she wasn't taken by humans. She'll probably be a sitting duck until a mode of transportation comes her way... A safe mode that is."

* * *

Rukia tried to duck into her pool. Some kind of person or thing was deeper in the cave. Rukia learned the hard way to always have a guard up. Her glare was the sign showing that she was ready to kill.

She and the sparkle kept their places. After a few minutes of suspense, Rukia took a rock and threw it like a grenade to the sparkle. A yelp came echoing back, startling Rukia and making her duck.

"Who's there?!" Rukia shouted.

"K-Kon!... The great, almighty Kon! Uh…If you don't leave now, I- I will... I WILL KILL YOU WITH MY GODLY POWERS!" The voice sounded like it was forced. Rukia could easily tell that the other person was trembling. She thought for a moment. Plan A: ready.

"But I'm hurt." Rukia morphed into her 'hopeless, little girl' voice. "I got lost during the storm. I need to find a way back to my home. I'm sure my brother would give you a reward for my safe return..." Rukia waited again. She hoped that the other person would give in to her sob story. It was a usual tactic she used when the opposing force had the upper hand.

"Oh, so you're just looking for help? Of course! The mighty Kon shall help you!" As the person said it Rukia could see some movement farther into the cave. Something was getting closer, but as it did, it didn't seem to grow much. Finally, Rukia saw the shape of a doll with spikes for hair. Two spots of light supposedly showed where the eyes were. A fifth limb hung loosely from behind... A tail maybe? What was he doing walking on his hind legs only? The puny figure and Rukia were in a dark area of the cave so she couldn't see him.

"Go into the light over there, I can't see you," Rukia ordered like she was just a little, helpless girl that needed her mommy. The doll did as it was told. Once it stepped into the light, Rukia gasped.

There stood a lion doll. A reversed colored sunflower was the head. The short, brown triangles edged his head. His skin-... Clothe was a golden brown. Black beads were his eyes. His tail had a tuff of brown fuzz. All of his paws were round and had three small, white triangles edging them.

"Ahh, you're just a little girl! Don't worry, Kon the great shall help you."

"..."

"Well? What's your name, miss?"

"You're a doll..."

"Oh don't worry 'bout that. I am just merely inhabiting this doll. You see, I'm actually a spirit. It all started out when-"

_Blah, blah. Blah- bitty blah..._

"A doll..." she said quietly. The blood rushing into her cheeks turned her face red. A sparkle glowed in her growing eyes.

Kon kept on with his speech and never saw it coming.

"OH MY GAWD, IT'S SO CUTE!"

"Onee-san! Let- me- go!" Kon tried to say while Rukia squeezed him to death. Her love for cute things... People can die from it...

* * *

... *:.｡. o(≧▽≦)o .｡.:* ...

_*After their little episode:*_

"Yo! Kon here with a newsflash! As you all know, my other TV show, Bleach, already has the luxury of having my Shinagami Illustrated Cup: Golden! And so, due to popular demand, 'The Little Mermaid, Rukia!' will also be rewarded with Illustrated Cup. Don't forget! Check out Bleach too if you want more Kon! Of course, you all are spoiled enough with me being featured on one show. But, I love you guys enough to keep going.

BE ON THE LOOK OUT!

Kon, signing out!"

The channel changed.

"Aw! Nee-chan, I was watching that!" Yuzu sat on the couch pouting to her sister who flipped through the channels without thought.

"What? It looked so boring. Besides, what kind a show do you think it is? That was a little doll! I bet it's just a kid's show."

"Hmmm... I don't know... It looked okay. I mean, that Kon guy said there was another of his shows on something called 'Bleach'. It must be popular if it's airing on two shows now... I wonder what this show was though... We didn't get to see any of it in time... Something about mermaids, did he say?" Yuzu went into thinking mode and tapped her head with one finger and eyes closed. Karin just sat there, oh so bored, and kept flipping through the channels.

'Seriously?' Karin thought. 'Mermaids are just fairy tales. Nothing but a kid's imagination.' With that she turned off the TV.

* * *

Orihime and Tatsuki are introduced. A scene from their past is brought up, explaining how they met. The story switches over to the Kuchiki palace where Renji is giving the bad news about Rukia to Ukitake and Byakuya. Then we find out who else is in the cave with Rukia. Finally, since Kon is now an introduced character, he puts up an Illustrated Cup: Golden, like from the original Bleach.


	4. Chapter 4 Pursuit

Chapter 4 – Pursuit

"Toshiro!"

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's Captain Histugaya!" Toshiro snapped back. Ichigo stood on the deck of the Hyorimaru, a ship named after Captain Toshiro's sword. The ship headed toward the island of the Kurosaki Kingdom. After four days of visiting the Annacar Kingdom, Ichigo left his dad to go back home. The old man decided to stay behind and 'chat' with Aizen a little more. Hopefully there won't be another great war.

"You're vice, Rangiku, wants you. Something about beer or whatever..."

"Well tell her I'm busy, and that she can't drink. It's only lunch time." Toshiro went back from scowling at Ichigo to scowling at the sea. Going at a stable speed, the ship would reach the island in about seven more hours.

* * *

Rukia gaped at all the objects in the chest. Kon had dragged it from the way, way back of the cave to the pool Rukia still sat in. The chest was wooden with decorations that looked like bones and skulls. Names were carved into the wood next to the skulls. On the inside of the chest the letter 'V' was painted with white.

One object was a bag full of light green beads. Another was a book, journal maybe. The chest was mostly filled with gems, gold, coins, and other various/valuable things. One item was a map. It looked and felt somewhat new. A few tears and stains marked it, but other than that, it was fine.

"What is this?"

"Hmmm... That is a world map."

"But it doesn't show anything. I don't see any cities or historical marks." Rukia stared at the map. Who would use this? Humans? Is the map showing land marks that are above water?

"Nee-sama, have you never been here before? The parts of the world? This is a very typical map for those traveling. Even if the storm carried you here, it couldn't have carried you far. We're in the Circle of Fates." Kon said. He was lounging next to Rukia. He was on his side holding up his head with one arm. His tail flicked and swayed behind him.

"I've heard something about the circle... But not much. I think I had found it in a book from my brother's library."

"Ehh? Really, now...Well, the circle is actually a sphere. Not many know this since there's many levels. The level we're on is the inter level. This one has the most of everything: humans, merpeople, spirits, skybeings, etc. It's also the biggest other than its counterpart, the precipice world. This ring of the sphere has the most kingdoms out of the whole sphere. According to the map, the closest kingdom here is the Kurosaki. Hmmm. The population there is mostly human." An idea popped into Rukia's head.

"Hey, Kon. How close is it? Maybe I can get help there."

"Oh. I don't know. It might be harder than you'd think. How much does your kingdom know about other spices? Just because this is the inter part, there's not as much travelers compared to natives. How do you think humans will react to merpeople who they probably only see twice a lifetime?" Rukia's hopes dropped. How many times has Rukia seen a human?... None. But she couldn't just stay here. The map showed the whole planet and its lands. Rukia rummaged through the chest for more maps.

"I haven't even seen a human before. I have to try though. There's something wrong at my brother's kingdom." Rukia's hand touched something smooth and folded. "There are these creatures that could harm my people. Skeleton Sharks. They are vicious creatures that don't have hearts or minds. All they do is eat other to survive. I must find my kingdom and help my brother protect it." Rukia kept her head down. Her bangs shrouded her face. Her knuckles turned white from gripping the new map that she unraveled. Kon blinked.

"You mean demons? White bone like armor? Eating souls of the living to grow? Ruthless, terrifying, beasts?" Rukia snapped her head up. It was her turn to blink as Kon described them perfectly... With such a _laid back_ attitude...

"Yes... They- Do you... Do they live here too? Above water?"

"Yeah. Figures since there's life here. They are everywhere. Even where the living can't be. They'll have other names too. For example... Hmm... Shinagami call them hallows."

'Shinagami?' Rukia thought. 'Death gods are real?'

Kon picked through a pile of stuff from the chest causally. Finally, he fished out a crown, that was probably for a baby's head, put it on then sat back down. Rukia's eye twitched. Then a vein popped. And... Kon flew into a stalagmite.

"BAKA! This is serious! You have not even seen the size of the skeleton shark that took me by surprise! I wasn't even able to sense it. That's not normal! What if that happens with another sea creature? They might be killed!" Kon got up to his feet, rubbing his face. Why the hell did she throw him? Of course demons are a big deal, but it's not like we haven't seen them before... Before Kon could argue back Rukia was crawling to the cave's opening. Kon saw her prop herself onto a huge rock that was out more into the water than the rocky floor of the cave. Kon ran after her. He had to jump from other rocks to hers. Rukia sat in silence the rest of the afternoon. Kon stayed with her for a few hours then slept next to the pool in the chest's open cover.

* * *

Ichigo stood at the rail. Everybody else was downstairs eating dinner. He couldn't go down. The joyous time the crew was having brought back memories. Painful memories. Ichigo still had nightmares. Being on a ship made it worse. He didn't show it though. He remembered how much of a coward he was back then. Because of that... He... He killed her... That's not going to happen again. Not to anybody else. Ichigo then heard soft footsteps.

"Kurosaki-san." Momo said. Ichigo turned around to see her with a tray of food and a chair. "I know you like your privacy. If you need someone to talk to though, I'm here." She put the tray on the chair, bowed to Ichigo, then left. Momo was one of the crew members that cared to everyone like they were their best friend. Most of the crew was like family. Even if many tried to act like they don't care, it shows that they do. Take Toshiro for example. He's like the complete opposite of Momo. Always scowling, usually shouting or at least scolding, doing paperwork, and never relaxing. Even their appearances are completely different. Toshiro gets somewhat of a tan, Momo's white as snow. Toshiro has the unusual snow white hair and turquoise eyes, Momo has the common dark brown hair and matching eyes. But both care a whole lot for their crew mates and others. Ichigo couldn't understand why he couldn't stop being sappy even though he's around such people.

Only some of the sun's rays were visible now. They lined the horizon like a crown. The heat deteriorated and the wind blew a little stronger. Ichigo still stood at the rail. Behind him were crew members coming back up and preparing for another of Rangiku's parties. Rangiku herself was already getting drunk, leaving her best friend Momo to keep her awake for her own party.

"Heeeeyyy~ Kurosaki-kun! Wahcha doin' here all alone? Come join! There's *hiccup* a bunch of drinks and food!" Rangiku's eyes were closed and she had a goofy smile on. There was a beer bottle in her hand. She stood next to Ichigo. Momo was in back of her smiling apologetically. Ichigo couldn't help it.

"Sure. Just let me get changed. I don't want to ruin my suit." Rangiku cheered then skipped off to get another beer, giggling all the way.

"Thank you, Kurosaki-san," said Momo before bowing, then running after Rangiku. Ichigo went to his room.

* * *

"-on. Kon! KON, wake up!" Kon tried lifting an eyelid. Seeing only a bunch of grey, he let it fall back down. Unfortunately, someone picked him up and started shaking him like a maraca.

"Whaaa-uh-ahhh! Matte, matte! Nee-san?!" Kon felt himself hit the ground and tried standing back up. It was hard to do since the world seemed to keep spinning…

"Good, you're up." Rukia started dragging herself back to the cave's opening. Far into the distance was a small cluster of lights. Kon so fallowed her.

"Huh? Well, what do ya know? A ship."

"Yup. Do you think it's going to the Kurosaki Kingdom?" Rukia asked. There was a few seconds of silence then Kon ran back to the chest. Rukia turned to him but couldn't see what he was doing. It was still dark. Probably midnight or something… Kon appeared again with a weird stick thingy. It was shaped like a huge icecream cone with glass covering both ends. Kon put the small end near his eye and pointed it at the lights.

"Oh, that's where it's goin', all right… _That_ is the Hyorimaru. Their captain and crew are friends of the Kurosakis' themselves. As a matter of fact, they might be carrying a Kurosaki with them."

"What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Rukia crawled back into the cave.

"Um… Nee-san… didn't you say your tail's not working?"

"Yup. BUT, this can help." Rukia came back with the wooden board that kept her afloat. The only thing that kept her from sinking back into the sea where the skeleton sharks might have been waiting for her.

* * *

Ichigo sat on a wooden crate, clapping along with the crew. Some members danced in the middle of the deck as others watched. Some played music for the rest. It was dark, but their lanterns shone brightly. Ichigo was able to focus a little bit more on something other than his mother. Chad was also out and enjoying the party. He sat next to Ichigo and watched the dancers too.

_'thunk'_

Chad picked up an ear. He used his nose when no sound came again. There was only the smell of salty sea water and nothing else. He looked towards the ship's rails. Another _'thunk'_ actually came. He crept over to it and found nothing. He left the party to go downstairs. Once he arrived at Ichigo's and his room, he looked out one of the circular windows. The sea water was about a foot below the windows. He couldn't see much but there was something bobbing in the water not too far out. The ship's shadow covered most of its features. The thing kept coming closer and closer, slow and steady. Something else appeared. It stood on the bobble thinky but moved like a human. It was enough to make Chad growl. The thing certainly didn't look human. It was barely big enough to be a human infant! Chad had seen creatures other than humans, like death gods, demons, and witches, but nothing like this!

Chad bolted out of the room and rushed to the deck. He went over to Ichigo and put his two front legs on Ichigo's lap. Ichigo looked at him, sort of confused, but got the message when Chad started whining. The dog tugged on Ichigo's sleeve then led him downstairs. Chad got up to the window from before and pointed.

"What is it? I don't see anything…" Ichigo and Chad looked out the bedroom's other windows just to come up empty handed. Chad whined again.

The ship's figurehead was an ice dragon. The head stared out into the sea in front of the ship. Its wings shielded the front half of the ship's sides. The tail ran along the right side of the ship and was thick enough to fit the little mermaid on it.

"Now all we gotta do is wait." Kon said. He sat on Rukia's lap and opened up one of the maps he brought. Rukia nodded in agreement but something came to her realization.

"But what do we do once I'm there? You said that the people might freak out. What if they don't want to help? I'll be stuck again until my tail's all better…"

"You know, I was actually looking for some old friends. My transportation got messed up and landed me in that cave not long before you came. They've been here for a while, on the inter level. They should have connections already."

"I hope they do…" Rukia said. The uneasiness of the whole situation overwhelmed her. When would she return to her kingdom? What's wrong with her senses? Is a new, more powerful, and stealthy type of skeleton shark evolving? Whatever was happening wasn't good. _That_ was clear enough.

"I want 50% of the guards to line the outskirts of the kingdom. The other 50% protects the palace. The special forces are to be spread out over the whole Kuchiki area. Tell them to stay hidden." Byakuya was in the middle of arranging protection plans for the kingdom. Not even an hour ago did he receive a message from Ukitake, who had to go back to his kingdom, that similar skel shark experiences erupted from all over the sea. No one knows when it's going to spread to other seas. "They need to find the out what's happening to the skeleton sharks. The locals and visitors should stay within the kingdom. Do not let them out unless it's an emergency." With Rukia still missing, all hell was breaking loose in Byakuya's opinion. Being king, he was forced to stay with his kingdom. There was no option of searching for Rukia. Instead, he sent Renji with a group of soldiers. Not many could go because of the crisis potential problems.

* * *

_Meanwhile:_

Renji and his team of nine swam to the sunken ship where Rukia and he were separated.

Renji had a scowl on his face the whole time. Seeing the ship made it deepen. Without turning to look at his group, he said, "Search in groups of two or more. No one goes alone, even for a second. Kaien, you're coming with me." All members chorused a 'yes, sir' before disappearing into the ship. "Kaien, we'll be surveying the outside of the ship."

"Sure." The two then headed off like the others.

* * *

More lights were coming into view. At this point, they just looked like a bunch of fireflies stuck in jar, that kind of compact look but soon enough, Rukia knew that they would grow into an entire field. She woke up Kon from his nap, and with his help, shoved herself off the wooden dragon's tail. Kon sat on her head and she took off to a dark part of the shore. Since she still couldn't use her tail, she was a bit slow.

"Kon, go ahead and use the board. Here," Rukia said and gave him the silver stick thingy from the sunken ship. Kon took it then used the flattened end, which was opposite of the four shorter sticks, to paddle to shore. Rukia let herself sink down to the shallow bay sea floor. She could still see the lights and boat. She crawled to the dry beach sand after leaving a pearl wedged into a rock. It was from her hair accessories that she wore to show that she was from the Kuchiki clan. The mark of a flower and sword were embedded into the pearl. Hopefully, one of the Kuchiki kingdom's locals or friends would sense it and find her. They were priceless, but meant nothing if not used by a Kuchiki (since no one but a Kuchiki could afford them).

"Okay, Nee-san. I found a river over there," he pointed to small boulder that was next to a bottom of a cliff a few meters away. "Pretty small, but anything big might be visited by the people here." Kon took the board and silver stick thingy then started walking to the boulder with Rukia crawling besides him.

* * *

Toshiro knocked onto Ichigo's door.

"Ichigo! Wake up, we're here." Ichigo came out a few minutes later. All the crew members prepared for docking. Royal guards were set up nearby. Ichigo could see his sisters' carriage and smiled. Once off the ship, he joined them and they rode to the palace.

"Welcome, home, Ichi-nii!" the two chimed together.

"Thanks guys," Ichigo said while giving them a hug. A little while later, they arrived at the Kurosaki palace. Right when they came in through the huge double doors, they were greeted by Uryu. Uryu was a Quincy. In other words, a type of demon hunter. He was probably one of the last. He joined the Kurosaki kingdom after befriending Ichigo.

Today, Uryu was dressed in the Quincy uniform, white clothes and a short cape with blue designs. It was a sign that told Ichigo that something was up.

"Yuzu, Karen, why don't you guys get back to bed. It's not even three a.m. yet." The light brown haired girl seemed hesitant. The black haired girl had to grab her hand and pull her to their room. It pained Ichigo to know how much his sisters worried about him. They were always taught to stand by and go on without Ichigo since their roles of the kingdom were different from his. It wasn't because of their gender. The twins were simple not old enough. Once they were out of sight, Ichigo turned back to Uryu. "What's wrong?"

"It's the demons. They're becoming strange."

* * *

Summary:

Toshiro and his crew are introduced. Rukia finds maps. She later sees Toshiro's ship, Hyorimaru, and she and Kon go and follow it to the Kurosaki kingdom. Back down in the ocean, Byakuya is preparing for a skeleton shark problem. He sent Renji to look for Rukia. Renji and his team go back to the sunken ship. Rukia and Kon arrive at the kingdom. Ichigo finds out about a demon situation from a newly introduced Uryu.

* * *

Author's Note: Hurray! Fourth chap is finished.

Oh, and just to let you know, I'm not going to put Kon's Illustrated Cup in every chapter. Just a few here and there. I might put other little shows, like the character guide, but I wanted to work on the story the most…


	5. Chapter 5 Different

Chapter 5 – Different

Ichigo and Uryu sat at Ichigo's desk in his private office. Uryu had told him of his latest mission.

* * *

_-flashback-_

_Uryu readjusted his glasses. Right now, he was examining a 'more powerful than usual' demon's tracks. It had attacked a small house about ten minutes ago. A seemingly normal day of course. Hunt a demon, track it down, then kill. He just had to make sure everyone was okay, then set out for the next mission. _

_Finally, the tracks stopped. They stopped in a small clearing. A twig snapped behind him. He readied his bow and turned. Nothing… Just as he stepped back he was smacked by an invisible force into a tree. His vision blurred and was dotted with black and white spots and stars. He could just make out the faded image of a demon. It lifted itself with its white, boney wings then materialized right in front of Uryu's face. Right at that second, it disintegrated to dust. _

_Just like that. A demon came, defied Uryu's senses, then die spontaneously… At least, it looked like it died. _

_Uryu got up and made his way back to the small house. He warned the residents about the mysterious ending of his mission before rushing back to the Kurosaki palace. A few hours later, Ichigo had returned. _

_-end of flashback-_

* * *

"Hmmm. Were there any other cases like this?" Ichigo asked.

"Not exactly. But there were a few that came close." Uryu opened a note book he carries usually and handed it to Ichigo. The page had the testimonies of soldiers. While Ichigo examined the page and a few more, Uryu continued. "A lot of soldiers had recent cases of being ambushed. The weird part is that the demons in each case seem to not care about the villagers. They attacked the soldiers and no one else. It's not even the same demons. Each time, they're different. Not once had a demon appear twice in the same scenario." There was an uncomfortable silence afterward. Ichigo thought long and hard. Unfortunately, there was no solution or answer he could think of.

"Call out to other kingdoms. See what their problems are. Anything similar and we're going to prepare the kingdom for defense plans. When I mean similar, I mean right down to the time of the problem and even how the witnesses felt. Find the details. Update me next week."

"Kay. Any major similarities and I'll update you as soon as I can." With that, Uryu left for his task. Ichigo stayed at his desk and sighed. Why did all of a sudden did this have to happen? Ichigo just got home. His sisters looked forward to having a full week of planned activities with him. His dad was still out of the kingdom, meaning that it was up to Ichigo if anything happened… Which something did happen… Ichigo couldn't admit it, but he knew in the back of his mind that he didn't want to be king.

'_That's right, king! Step down._' That voice! It was there again. Ichigo didn't know where it came from or who it was, but he knew it wasn't his. '_Go ahead. I can take over for you…_' The voice drove Ichigo nuts.

* * *

Kon bashed a couple of rocks together. After a few tries, a spark was created then grew on the wood sticks. Rukia propped herself up against a tree, far from the fire. The heat was unbearable when she was next to it. She guessed that living at the bottom of the sea wasn't the best way to prepare for being around fire. She missed the cold depths of her home. Here, above the water, it was so hard to move. There was no way of going above things, always under or around. The air was moist but not like the water. Plus, gravity seemed stronger here.

This was no place for a mermaid.

Rukia crawled back to the small river she and Kon had used to get here. She lied down in the bank and stared at the sky. This was one of the few things she liked above water. The sky filled with stars and fluffy clouds were beautiful despite the storm that passed not long ago. The moon was the prettiest. It wasn't like the sun. It glowed just enough to show itself to the creatures below it. The sun was so bright that it looked black. It was over powering. The moon was soft. The moon was beautiful. If the moon was a person, that person would probably be called a god because of their beauty.

Rukia took a second to look back at the fire. Kon was nowhere to be seen. "Kon," she called out. No response. She called out again with the same results. Finally, after what seemed like an hour, Kon came back. Something was following him.

"Rukia! I found them!" Kon stopped in front of Rukia and so did another living doll. It was a big headed, pale yellow bird that wore a light blue jacket with the hood up. The front of the jacket was tied with a small red bow. Her eyes were big white circles unlike Kon's small bead eyes. "This is-"

"Hello! My name is Ririn!"

* * *

The little bird named Ririn lead Rukia and Kon to a small house. It looked a little shabby unlike the grass in its small clearing which was nicely cut. Once Rukia appeared out of the trees' shadows, a young teenaged girl came out of the house with a weird contraption.

"Please wait right there!" the girl called out. She rushed over to Rukia then sat on her legs in front of her. The girl had shiny black hair that reached the middle of her back, with a strand of hair that fell down her forehead then split and stopped at her small nose. With her huge, ditzy, soft blue eyes, she didn't look like a threat at all… But… she didn't look surprised at all either… Exactly why was that? "Konbanwa," she started with a bow. "my name is Tsumugiya Ururu. This is a cart," she pointed to the weird thing she brought. Her voice was very soft. "I'm going to use it to push you to the house, okay? Can you crawl onto it?" Ururu finished with a slight tilt of her head. _Nope, not a threat_, Rukia thought. _Even if she is, I can't fight right now anyway…_

Rukia climbed on to the flat, metal board with Ururu helping with her tail. She took note of the small ball things under the board which separated it from the ground. Ururu started pushing the cart again and Rukia could fell the ground just sliding under… _This isn't anywhere in the sea! It's so easy like this._ Kon and Ririn jumped on with her. Rukia watched as grass and tuffs of flowers ran passed her. With her eyes on the ground, she didn't notice how close the house was now until she saw its shadow. She looked up to see a pair of sliding doors. One of them was slammed aside. Inside was a teenaged boy with red hair that was brushed back. He had a scowl on.

"Hurry up! Urahara's waiting," he said then disappeared back into the house. Another voice came. It seemed more… how to put it… happy? To Rukia it sounded like some kind of merchant from the black market (Rukia followed a kid who had stolen Rukia's sword into one).

"Now, now, Jinta-kun. We don't want to act like that in front of our guest, now do we?" The mystery man said. Ururu pushed Rukia into the house. Inside were some shelves lined up neatly and stocked with things that had, what Rukia guessed were, price tags. Two men and Jinta stood inside, one held a tray of small bowls. "My, I'm so sorry for the employees. Ururu, why don't you take Miss Rukia to the back room so we could talk," said the man with blonde hair. It was the same voice from before. The man certainly had the merchant look. A 'friendly' smile and a striped, green and white hat that covered his eyes made Rukia feel trapped. Trapped like there was a Rukia sized cage in the 'back room'. The other man didn't help. He was tall and muscular with a weird hairdo and glasses. Rukia's knuckles turned white as her fists gripped the edge of the cart. Kon and Ririn jumped off then followed the three men through a door. A second later, Ururu followed. Her brother was going to _kill _her for ending up like this…

* * *

Orihime stared at the ceiling. She lay on her bed in the dark.

_Tick, tock, tick, tock._

The wall clock went on and on, but Orihime couldn't hear it… all she could hear was the now nonexistent sound of horse hooves. She didn't even notice herself sigh…

_A couple of handfuls of people stood behind guards as the crew exited the ship. A variation of looks and personalities were reveled in the members._ Most were unnaturally beautiful or handsome. There was only one that Orihime couldn't take her eyes off of. She didn't know why. She didn't know how. She probably wouldn't even meet him. She just knew that her heart skipped a beat at the sight of _the_ Prince Ichigo… She couldn't help but blush at the memory of his face. The way he scowled. How he walked like he was king already. His short moment of surprise from two little girls that came running to him smiling… making him smile.

Orihime couldn't take the blood rushing to her cheeks. She shot up from her bed to grab her long jacket. With her fuzzy slippers she came out of her bedroom and into the balcony of her kind of small house boat. She leaned on the railing while hugging her jacket tightly to her body. The cold winds of Fall were already here. She didn't need to catch a cold anytime soon. Living on her own didn't make things easy. Except for when you're trying to think… Unfortunately, thinking made it worse for her.

At first, Orihime was so caught up in her thoughts that she didn't notice the small tug on her sleeve. She was just about to answer but something yanked her hair up.

"OW, ow, ow, ow, ow-," she whimpered.

"WHAT THE 'ELL ARE YOU DOING? We've been calling you for FIVE minutes now!" Tsubaki yelled out. She heard Tsubaki and Shun'o start to bicker before her hair was released. The two fairies plus Ayame came in front of Orihime. Shun'o and Ayame looked sad, kind of worried almost and Tsubaki was madder than usual. "Well? Ever since you've come home you've ignored us," Tsubaki went on.

"Did something happen, Orihime-chan? You forgot about dinner. We made some snacks but you wouldn't answer us," explained Shun'o. Ayame stayed quiet as usual and just nodded to show that she completely agreed with the other two. This put Orihime in the invisible "Box o' Shame."

"Sorry, guys. I'm not feeling all that great. Just a small headache I picked up somewhere in town…" Orihime felt bad for lying, but that fact that she started gushing over _the prince_ was embarrassing.

"Ah, that's all? We'll go get you some medicine and water then," Shun'o and Ayame raced back inside. Orihime called out a 'thank you' before turning back to Tsubaki. Considering how stubborn he is, Orihime wasn't surprised. He was the hardest to trick. It was annoying but actually felt good to know that he always insisted that something was wrong. Tsubaki scowled, his eyes going back and forth from his master, Orihime, and his fellow fairies. After a few seconds, he gave up trying to figure out what was wrong right at that moment and flew inside.

Orihime took a nice, long moment to make sure they actually went down before sighing. Ever since that night, Orihime felt utterly alone. Even with her big list of new friends here in town, she couldn't forget him. He was more than a care taker and brother. He was Orihime's best friend.

_Sora _

-(T.T)-

* * *

"Renji! Come here! I've caught her presence!" Kaien called out. It only took a second to rush over. Being a crab man doesn't mean you're _that_ slow. "It's very faint… really small too. I can't find it though. It feels like it's right here, but it's not."

"Cool down, whatever we do, we can NOT lose it. This may be our only chance at finding her. Those hollows might be looking for her too. The last time I saw her, she floated off to the surface. After that, I couldn't see her. Keep looking!" Renji dug his hands into the sandy sea floor. Kaien copied, after a while he called a group of their men to come look too.

They had been out there for a while. Renji was surprised to not see any skeleton sharks. Kaien, being a close friend of Rukia was worried out of his mind just like Renji. Both were desperate. If they didn't find anything, they would have to go back to the kingdom to help guard. Neither wanted to go back without Rukia. _No way_ were they going to leave her behind.

"Sir!" one of the men shouted. He had his hands cupped, one over the other. Kaien swam over. "Does Kuchiki-hime wear any jewelry?"

"Yes. What did you find?" Kaien's hopes just soared. Rukia wasn't the girly type, but she wore certain things for to show her importance and place in the Kuchiki kingdom.

"A pearl. I'm not sure if it's her's but it has part of a chain in it and the scent of the kingdom," he finished.

"Kaien! Did you find anything?!" Renji had rushed over since his luck seemed to be the worst at the time. His patience ran low. He'd have his own head if nothing came up. Fortunately, he spotted Kaien, out of the corner of his eye, talking to a soldier holding something.

"Yeah! We have one of Rukia's pearls from her headdress. It still has her presence on it!" Kaien called out proudly. Renji's face lit up as Kaien gave the pearl to him. Not a second later did he pick up a stronger presence of Rukia. "Feel it?"

"Yup. Let's go before it fades." All the men, who had been listening intensely, got up quickly to chase Renji. Kaien called the rest of the group and they left the scene too, their black hioris flapping behind them.

* * *

"Hmm… So, Rukia-san, you were first ended up meeting Kon at the cave…" the merchant said.

"Yes."

"Then the Kurosaki's ship passed by and you followed?" the girl went on quietly.

"Correct."

"And now you're stuck here." the red head threw out as if there was nothing wrong with being a mermaid suck on an island populated by humans and miles away from her home.

"Unfortunately and ironically." Rukia answered. She sat on the small ground pillow, something like a sea sponge except that it wasn't a living creature, at a low table. Ururu, Jinta, and Ririn just finished their questions for their guest. Rukia stared at the 'cup' of 'tea' in front of her. It was a very weird drink. So… light, like water.

"Well it seems like you're not leaving any time soon. The storm that you got caught up in is only one of many. They've been coming and going ever since two months ago. So, Rukia-san, what are you going to do?" the blonde man finished. Rukia learned that his name was Urahara Kisuke. The other man was Tsukabishi Tessai.

Kisuke just sat there like everyone else. He waved his fan lightly to his face and had a smile on. His eyes though… ugh… his and everybody, with the exception of Kon and Ririn, bore into Rukia's head. It seemed like all of them just had masks on. Kisuke was the only one that didn't mind if it showed. The way his hat shielded his eyes from most light let Rukia see the mischievous glint. It made her gulp.

Rukia then took a breath, closed her eyes and started, "I've decided to stay on the island. I'll be working to get either transportation or to heal my tail. All I ask for is for shelter. Preferably near a water source…" Once she opened her eyes Kisuke changed back to his peppy, merchant form.

"Oh! Why of course, Rukia-san. I believe you are in luck. A shack has been abandoned for few years now. I think you'll see it'll fit to your needs quite perfectly! Why don't Kon and Ururu take you there now? If you'd like, you can take a few supplies with you. Come back if you need anything, okay?"

"Ah, sure. Let's go, Nee-san," Kon said as he jumped of the low table and headed towards the door. Rukia got back onto the cart so that Ururu could push her.

"Would you like something for your stay, Rukia-san?" Ururu asked.

"Um… Some food would be fine. Thank you." Ururu packed some weird, Rukia guessed 'human', food and a few other things into a bag. Outside, they went back into the woods and strolled along the side of the river. Kon joined Rukia on the cart as the minutes passed by. After what seemed like an hour Ururu stopped and pulled to a huge hill that was next to the river. She went over to a tree on the bottom of the hill, got on her knees, and pushed away fallen leaves. Rukia just stared at the weird objects. Kon turned to her to start naming them. 'Trees' and 'leaves' weren't apart of the sea, but were obviously plentiful here on land.

Ururu came back and pushed Rukia to the hill, which now had a door.

"This used to be the playhouse of a kid. They abandoned it years ago, but Jinta and I found it not too long afterwards. We kept it in a livable condition. If there's anything wrong, just tell us and we'll fix it." Ururu said. Kon opened the door and went in after the two girls.

The inside was actually bigger than the hill. At the door was a ramp that lead them down a few more feet than the ground outside. Tessai could probably stand in it and have two feet of room above him. The walls were curved to fit the hill's shape and covered in what Kon called 'wood', so was the floor. Near the ramp was another. It followed the wall as it sank below the floor. Ururu slid down it while holding the railing that guarded the ramp's side. Rukia and Kon mimicked her into the next room.

This room was like the last except it had furniture. A big, white box, refrigerator, counters, and a black box, stove, stood on one side of the wall. A saucer like thing hovered over the stove. To take away the smell, smoke and gas Kon explained. A stool sat by itself. A closet on the other side of the wall was opened. Ururu helped Kon explaining the tools before leading the group down one more ramp.

This room had a ramp too but Ururu claimed it was empty like the first. A bed sat in between two nightstands. Another closet stood open away from the bed.

"Here's your bag, Rukia-san. I'll leave the cart here for you plus a walking stick for when there's no one to push you. If anything happens, use this," Ururu said. She handed Rukia a small, thin, white thing. "This is a phone. It's very rare, so don't lose it. You can use it to call me or anyone else who has one like it." She went on showing how it works. Power button, sound, touch screen, customization… Rukia's eyes sparkled at an 'app' that lets you draw. Next was the phone book. List of names or numbers went on alphabetically. Jinta, Kisuke, Kon, people named Kurodo and Noba, then more who Rukia didn't know. After a test drive with the phone Ururu decided to leave. It was almost morning. Kon stayed to keep Rukia company. She was way too amazed at the day's events to sleep. Eventually, Kon had to take a nap, so Rukia messed with her phone the rest of the night.

* * *

Orihime stretched her arms and back. Despite the crummy sleep she got, she felt a whole lot better. Some of the fairies made her breakfast and even made a bouquet from the flowers Orihime had been growing.

"Orihime-chan," Ayame appeared holding envelopes. She put them on the table after struggling to hold onto them. Her hair and dress were soaked and drooping like weights.

"Ayame, are you okay? I could have gotten it myself…"

"But you're sick," Ayame protested. She put on a pouty face (which Orihime thought was quite adorable) and stared at her master sitting down at the breakfast table without blinking. Orihime couldn't help but chuckle. She took the fairy over to the sink to wash the new storm's rain off her.

_Yes_, Orihime thought, _things are getting better_.

An hour later, 5:30 am, Orihime took her umbrella. She had already prayed, but prayed once more to her brother for another great day. The rain and wind were harsh so she thought of going to a bakery later on. Right now though, she had appointments. One of them was for her friend, Chizuru, who had caught a cold like many other patients of Orihime.

Once at Chizuru's house, Orihime started the usual treatment. She took her hairpins and recited 'Sōten Kisshun (Twin Sacred Return Sheild), I reject!' Her fairies would then manifest from their hairpin forms and help heal, 'reject', any wounds, inside or out. It only took a few minutes. Afterwards, Chizuru became her peppy, usual self again.

"Thanks so much, Hime!" Chizuru hugged Orihime.

"Hehe… It, uh, it's n-nothing…" Orihime struggled to get the words out. Chizuru had a natural death grip that could only be matched by muscular men. She gasped as her friend finally let go. "Oh, know what? I was thinking about going to the bakery near the park for lunch. Would you like to come?"

"Oh, really? Sure, why not?" Chizuru grabbed her coat and bag. A few minutes later, they were out the door.

"Gosh, the weather's not very good, huh? I was hoping it would die down a little…"

"Eh, it will someday. It's probably just the seasons. It's not summer anymore. School is gonna start soon too. Hmmm…. You don't go to school, do you? Why not?" Chizuru asked.

"I haven't really thought of it actually. I was offered summer school by Tatsuki, but it seemed like too much at the time… I might now though… Might as well since it seems like this is where I'll stay the rest of my life… Which school?" Orihime had heard about three schools so far. There was Karakura High, a public school, Ponerorchis Angel School, an all girls', and the all boys' school, which she didn't get the name for.

"Hmm. I go to the public school, Karakura. The best, but hardest to get in, is the Kirin Boarding School. There's also an all girl's. Whichever you choose, they're all good," She said. Orihime never heard of the Kirin one, but that was out of her options already. Sure, Orihime came from a wealthy set of nobles. That doesn't mean that she could just send her money like that so quickly. All girls' schools usually get pricy too. Karakura would have to do. At least… some public school. It would be better if she graduated somewhere. "Of course, you probably don't need to go to any school. You're already known for your skills in the med. department. You might even be invited to some collages! But school is pretty cool. Gives you reason to skip home chores, meet with friends, get to know more people," Chizuru said as she counted fingers. "…start clubs, do stupid things like prank teachers…" she went on. Right as she finished they were at the entrance of the bakery and hurried in. "So… Which do you want to attend?"

"Hmmm… I think I'll try Karakura," replied Orihime.

* * *

_*After the show:*_

"You! Yes, you! Gueeeesssssssssssssssss what! It's time for the first ever MERMAID ILLUSTRATED CUP GOLDEN!" Kon flies away after posing like a model with a wave of sea water following him.

"Sorry, I dropped it because I tripped…" A guilty Yuzu stood in shame. The phone she was given had a screen so cracked it looked like it had spider webs. The teenaged girl sighed. Her short green hair blocked her face as she examined the broken phone in her hands. Her purple-ish eyes came back up to Yuzu.

"It's okay. I'll have it fixed, but it might take me awhile," she said. Just then Karin passed by. The green and brown haired girls looked.

"Geez, Yuzu, if you kept the case on it would be so bad."

"Ah. That's right… I tripped on my way to get- Nozomi-san?" Yuzu had turned back just to see nobody there. "Nozomi-san!" she called out. Nope. No reply.

Nozomi felt bad to traveling back without a good bye. She walked out of the Kurosaki palace and into the streets that were filled with the usual. Smart phones, electric cars, laptops, and other tech were everywhere. She visited the palace's gardens like she always did. She took out a new screen from her bag as she sat on a bench not far from the head stone that said 'Kurosaki Yuzu, princess of the Kurosaki's, sister of Ichigo and Karin.'

* * *

Summary:

Ichigo learns about Uryu's incident. A mysterious voice is introduced. Rukia meets Ururu and some other people from Urahara's shop. She gets settled into a former playhouse and is given a phone. Orihime remembers her first time seeing Ichigo. Renji and Kaien get a new lead on Rukia. Orihime decides to attend Karakura High.


	6. Chapter 6 Welcome

Chapter 6 – Welcome

_ERRR ERRR ERRR ERRR ERRR_

_Ugh…what?_

Rukia woke up to noise screaming. She searched her bed frantically. After a minute, a memory rushed into her head. She picked up her pillow and turned off her hidden phone's alarm. The clock on it read 5:30. She dragged herself out of bed and headed upstairs where light streamed down into her bedroom. Kon and Ririn sat on a low table with Ururu cooking at the counter. Ririn, being the one facing the ramp to the bedroom, noticed Rukia first.

"Ohayou," the little bird doll said. Kon then turned and joined them.

"Yo! Mornin' Rukia-chan," he chimed. "How's your second day on land, huh? Your tail feeling any better?" Rukia looked down and shook her head. She dragged over to the table as Ururu set a plate of steaming pancakes down. Kon, despite the gloomy atmosphere, dug in like a lion with his newly caught prey.

"Don't mind the loser, Rukia-chan. Why don't we take you to the beach? It'll probably help to be in the sea water, being a mermaid and all, _right Kon_?" Ririn said with that last part through clenched teeth.

"Huh? Oh… Ya! *_nom, nom, nom_* Lets go. Whatcha say about your people? We should hurry…" He gobbled down ten more pancakes then drank his drink in one go. Ririn made sure to kick him right when he put the cup down.

_There they go…_ Rukia thought. She couldn't help but relate Kon to Renji. Both hot headed, pretty stupid, but then, every once in a while, they'd show how caring they could be. Renji and Kon were like her brothers. She didn't want to admit it out loud, but if she left, she would miss Kon too. Ririn and Ururu were stuck on her just as much. It kind of pained to see someone so quiet and elegant like her brother. And Ririn, Rukia couldn't place it, but she reminded her of Kaien: strong but mostly caring. Stupid memories…

* * *

_-20 min later-_

The deserted 'private' beach was actually a good size. It faced the east and was covered in seaweed, shells, and crabs, big and small. Rukia's eyes sparkled like when she met Kon the doll.

"Eech," Kon said when he saw her face. "You like this?"

"This beach is owned Urahara-san. Knowing him, I don't think he even remembered he had this until you came," said Ririn.

By then, Rukia had already made a bed out of seaweed with the plentiful help of Ururu. It was laid out where the water could reach before retreating to the salty depts. Rukia army crawled as if she were right smack in the middle of war as she scouted for home-y things on the beach. She hummed happily the whole time.

"OI! YOUR PUNY HEAD TO SMALL TO GET ME OR WHAT?" Kon threw the insult at the bird. What kind of person just ticks you off then turn away? Biiiiiiirrrrd Braaaaaiiiiiiiin!

A second later, the red hot mark of a wing appeared on his face.

"Shuddup you idiot! I'm trying to listen," Ririn huffed before storming a few feet away, eyes locked on a certain mermaid. "I'm surprised. That voice of hers… Plus the fact that Urahara is leaving her alone. I wonder how focused he is on the half blood from town. It's one thing to see a shinigami with such potential. It's another to see a half shinigami slash _mermaid_."

"But isn't that a good thing?" Kon answered back, now healed from the beating. "At least, for now, we know he won't go all crazy again with experiments. That other kid is lucky his dad has such an influence over Urahara." The bird nodded. Of course, she and the lion knew what was happening to the humans and half death god. No one that knew Urahara well enough would doubt his creates and their effects on others. _He_ wasn't bad. But the things _he_ made? People would _die_ for.

* * *

_-in town-_

Orihime stared at the entrance. People buzzed by, most in their teenaged years. Some stopped and stared at her, but she didn't notice much of that.

"Yo, Hime-chan~!" Chizuru came up next to her. Tatsuki appeared next.

"Morning, Orihime. Ready?" The orange-head blushed a bit and gave a slight nod. Chizuru ushered them into Karakura High.

Lots of retuning students checked out the classroom assignment boards, library, and, sure enough, the "Big Three." Where ever the healer, fighter, and red-head went, the crowd parted. Everyone, wide eyed and mouths open, stood as close as they dared as their rumors were proved true right as they looked.

"You guys are so popular!" Orihime gasped. Tatsuki shook her head and sighed.

"It's only because you're with us now. It's a school thing. They make rumors, drama, and stupidity while we, as fellow friends with our own group, try our hardest to survive it," she explained. Chizuru continued for her.

"See, ever since you arrived on the island, these people wouldn't just shut up! You became a favorite within days. Boys drool over you and…ahem," the red-head glanced at Orihime's chest while clearing her throat, a strong yet silent pointer-outer Orihime didn't even comprehend, then went on, "and the girls are too confused about whether to befriend you or make sure you don't mess up the popular ranks."

"Anyways, most of these people are okay, but there's always someone that comes along and messes things up." Tatsuki finished. As if to prove her point, a boy with shaggy brown hair came rushing out of nowhere. His eyes were squinted with happiness.

"Inoue-Himeeeeeeeeeeee!" In a blink of an eye, he was kneeling, holding a rose, and posed as if he were in one of Shakespeare's plays… Probably "_Romeo_ _and Juliet_." He took in a long, deep breath to prepare for his planned out speech for the '_princess'_.

Tatsuki and Chizuru cut him off with a fist and foot to his face. As he flew backwards to a wall, denting it, Chizuru lead Orihime away so that Tatsuki could do her own speech about 'scaring poor Orihime to death' and 'how not to be so stupid.'

"Sorry, Hime-chan. That was just Keigo. He goes for all the pretty girls… Actually… he goes for most any girl if he even finds one thing to like about them. We see him a lot though since Tatsuki and I are friends with Shirosaki Kyo. Kyo's more mature, but down right dropout like."

"Eh? I'm nobody could be _that_ bad…" Orihime worried for 'Kyo'. Poor guy must be so misunderstood. That has to it. Nobody's bad for no reason…

"Well, he does have some… Circumstances that go against him. He's really a full of surprises kind of guy. Ah," Chizuru paused in front of a classroom door. "This: is my old classroom! I wonder if all of my class's work is still up…" She pulled the door to the side and tugged Orihime in. Chizuru walked in backwards to face Orihime and chat about the classroom history. Orihime however caught sight of a shaggy dark haired guy at the way back desk next to a window. After seeing Orihime stare off behind her, Chizuru looked back and calmly answered, "That's Kyo."

* * *

_-Kuchiki Palace-_

"They have not come back yet."

"I know. Don't worry so much. You're stressed out enough."

"Where is she?"

"I'm sure she's fine. Renji is trying his hardest. Kaien too. They're just as determined as you."

"…" Byakuya could only look down at his desk with strained vision. Paperwork, check patrols, save Rukia, paperwork… Not once did he ever think of giving up his sister to the unknown, the same goes for leaving the kingdom without a ruler to guide them. So many incidences keep popping up from the most random place to place. He even lacked sleep. Another fish with dark blue, and black scales, and huge side fins fluttered in for the millionth time that morning. This time, it held a message from Yamamoto, which was very, VERY bad. The fish settled in front of Byakuya as it sent the message, telepathically, to the king and his longtime friend.

_There will be a captain's meeting, including vice captains, but no one else. Meet in the conference room at 12:00 pm sharp. Captains must attend despite circumstances. _

The fish then fluttered away when the message died. Ukitake tried to made sure not to burden the king with anymore rush.

"Byakuya."

"I know." He stood and walked to the guard outside his office. "Prepare a messenger fish immediately. The fastest and most reliable." Five minutes later, the guard produced him with a three foot long dark blue and black fish. Its scales were different from most, bigger, closer to the skin. Byakuya knew this fish could withstand a war to the least. He spoke to it so the fish could record every sound and his urgent tone. He hoped their return would be soon. He did not know if war _would_ be the least. Hopefully, it won't even be the most.

* * *

"Renji."

…

"Renji…" he sighed. "We need to-"

"Shut up! I know," he snapped.

Renji stood there, head down, fists clenched. Kaien was right behind him. The message fish that showed up stopped them all in their tracks. Every soldier heard it loud and clear. King Byakuya's voice floated throughout their heads. The water around them thickened with the sense of danger. They had to abandon the mission. They had to stop looking for the princess. And they just knew she wasn't coming home anytime soon.

Despite the kingdom's needs they stood there. Hesitant on the right choice. Give up Kuchiki-hime or possibly give up the kingdom… How could two disasters happen at the same time?

Being so into the thought, they were startled when Renji finally called out, "Fall back."

* * *

Sum: Rukia and friends go to the beach. Ririn and Kon have a chat about Urahara, who Rukia knows just about nothing of, without the mermaid's witness. Orihime gets a tour of her future school and new Karakura High people coming into the story. Meanwhile, things aren't getting any better for the Kuchiki Kingdom or any other sea kingdoms. Byakuya and Renji are called for a meeting at Yamamoto's.

* * *

-(-_-;)-

Author's Note: I know, I know… I'm a very bad author. *sigh* Months and months and I give you four pages of sh-… uh, ahem, _poop_-y stuff… I'll try harder to beat those writer blocks.


	7. Chapter 7 Crossroads

Author's Note: I now have this InstaGram account dedicated to TLM, Rukia! where I only post pics that go with this story. Follow if you want. It'll be pics like how the characters are dressed or how some places look, stuff like that.

InstaGram Username: tlm_rukia

* * *

Chapter 7 – Crossroads

He had sea blue eyes that captured her heart in an instant. Masculine features of his could have beaten any movie star, model, or basically any guy you thought was the most handsome.

"Ah… Hey Chizuru."

"Ugh, _baka_, get your ass here and introduce yourself!" The red-head barked. Orihime blushed as that still image of the guy was thrown out of her mind. She stuttered, fused around like an idiot, trying to find her voice.

"Uh… um…N-ni-nice!... um… to meet y-you, Shirosaki-san!" She blurted out. Kyo smiled and nodded after giving Chizuru a dirty look. Obviously, he had not noticed that he stole _another _poorgirl's heart. As if the school needed more of that. He was known to the girls as a king and to the boys… well… a king. He was best in class at sports, grades, name it; he'll own it. The only thing that brought him down was his attitude. Sure, there's the loners, lone wolves, one-man-bands, but this guy? He's ten times worst. He'll seem normal. Then there's his other type of normal, the one where he's nothing but scowls and a cold shoulder. There were only so many people that actually knew, or at least came close to knowing, how he actually worked: Keigo, Mizuiro (one of his friends), Tatsuki, Chizuru, and his close family. Everyone else seemed like they took his own self and substituted it for something from a book. And didn't even know.

He was the really weird kind of Mr. Perfect.

But Orihime couldn't stop staring.

'_Oooooh~, what's this I sense? A witch?'_

Kyo mentally cringed, his outside unchanging. He walked up to the two girls then leaned on a desk, doing his best to keep the other person out. To his relief, a group of freshman came into the room seemingly eager to become friends with the three juniors.

After a teacher found them and redirected Tatsuki and Keigo came. More like…_dragged_ in. Tatsuki walked in, a beaten Keigo's back to her with only her grip on the back of his shirt's collar keeping him from falling to the floor.

"Ah-… Are you okay?" Orihime scrambled over to him. She laid him down and grabbed her bag. Tatsuki was pretty hard on him. A black, swollen eye; minor cuts; and scratches had him looking like he'd been picking a fight with the stereotypical gangster.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Tatsuki, Chizuru, and Kyo huddled up together, whispering. She couldn't hear them but Kyo's eyebrows scrunched up slightly. His eyes narrowed. Orihime had to take a few seconds to examine her work with Keigo. When she looked back Kyo had nodded then ran off.

A long, loud yawn broke the silence. Orihime hadn't realized she was staring at the empty doorway and turned her attention back to Keigo.

* * *

-_a few minutes later in the woods_-

He ran past, slowing a tiny bit. They ducked behind some tree and bushes off the side of the pathway. His eyes snapped to their location…probably because of their rushed close call escape. He shrugged it off with stopping his sprint. His eyes flickered back to the path in front of him and he was gone within seconds.

"That was close," Ririn whispered.

"Come on. Let's hurry up and blow this joint before another one come," Kon said. He ran into the middle of the path. After checking he gave them the thumbs up. Ururu pushed Rukia's cart across. Kon jumped on with Rukia and Ririn as they passed. They headed back to Rukia's place. A hallow forced them to go running back for safety.

"Hmm… I couldn't even sense it." Ririn said.

"This is how I got separated from my group. Even though there were tons of them, none of us could sense it."

"Does Urahara know?" Kon asked.

"Probably. But for now we should just lay low. Urahara's crazy enough to give us one of his projects so we could test drive it… Even if we don't know if it's even stable," The bird replied. Rukia then spoke up again.

"But what if he could make something to get me back home?"

"Too risky. Even if he could what would you do about the hallows? As much as I'd want to we can't go with you. We would either be crushed by the depth pressure or enemies."

"Bird Brain's right." Kon ignored and instantly recovered from the punch to his head. "We don't explore the deep blue much. We know as much as the humans here. And that isn't much."

"…Well… The same with me, but here. I doubt I'd survive up. I can barely be in the sun. Look at how dry my skin is." Rukia held out her arms. Despite leaving the beach only ten minutes ago her skin was white with lines and dead, dried out skin powder. Her hands' skin had such dry cracks of skin that they were pink inside. Ururu rushed over with a bucket of water. Rukia put her hands in but it did little help to ease the pain or moisturize her.

"Oh no… I'll go talk to Urahara then. Don't worry. I won't let him try anything bad. If he doesn't have something, there is one person I have been hearing about." Ririn scampered out the door after taking a picture with the phone.

"You can count on us Rukia-chan." Kon nodded calmly. Rukia managed a smile, but only for a second. I dropped once she looked back at her hands.

_-(poor Rukia-chan… (;n;)-_

* * *

"Is anyone hurt?" Ichigo picked up his gun and gave it a quick examination. The demon had smacked it out of his hand and it crumpled like paper. Thankfully, Uryu had healed from the blow to the head he'd gotten earlier and shot an arrow into the beast's head. The demon was now a pile of dust.

"Yeah," Uryu stumbled over to the man who lay on the ground. Two girls had rushed out from behind some bushes. They stopped cold in their tracks at the sight of their dad all bloodied and unconscious. "The kids claimed they came out here looking for their dog that went missing around here yesterday. They came face to face with the demon. The two ran off for help. That's when I came in and called for you. Dad was already passed out when I got here." Uryu sighed deeply and glanced at the girls. "Why don't you help those two while I help him?"

"…Sure." Ichigo gently pulled the two away. "I'm going to get you guys back home, okay? Do you know where your mom is?" They stayed silent for a minute. The younger one snapped her head up suddenly.

"We could ask her!" She said.

"Her?" Ichigo asked.

"Yeah, her!" The other girl exclaimed.

"Her? Who's her?"

"She can help us!" they said in unison.

"Your mom?" They shook their heads and started fidgeting excitedly.

"The nice lady!"

"_Very_ nice lady!"

"Um… Okay… What's her name?"

"Princess!"

"Yeah! Her name is princess! She has weird hair."

"Very weird hair."

"Her head looks like an orange."

"Yup!"

At this point, Ichigo worried. Was there a princess visiting? Karen and Yuzu don't have orange hair. Nothing close to it. Why hadn't he heard of her earlier?

The two girls were now pulling Ichigo along the street. All three scanned their surroundings as they sped by. People second-glanced them. They turned another corner. The girls came to a halt in front of a bakery café. They pointed inside with huge smiles and sparkles in their eyes. Inside, right where the girls pointed, was a group of teenagers. They had notice Ichigo and the little girls and were wide eyed. They were three teenaged girls. One spiky black haired, a really red red head, and… a girl with bright, orange hair.

* * *

_-(tlm_rukia)-_

"Princess-chan, help us!" the girls said as they tugged gently at the bottom of her jacket. Orihime gaped at the two little girls and the prince. _The_ prince.

"I'm sorry for disrupting your day. Their father was severely hurt. They said you could help. It's okay if you don't want to. I was trying to get them home when they lead me here instead." Ichigo looked at her for what seemed a year in Orihime's head. Finally it registered. She abruptly stood up.

"Y-yeah! Um, I mean… Of course…" The little girls smiled and each took one of Orihime's hands. Ichigo missed Tatsuki's glare. It was like that idiot's whole life had timing issues. Without another thought, the four sped out and headed for the woods.

_-(._.;)-_

* * *

Byakuya stood up straight. It's been a while since he had to go there. The circular doorway showed nothing but white.

"Renji."

"Yes, sir?"

"Once it ends, if we are permitted to, you are to go straight back to the search. Understand?" Renji let out a huge breath he didn't realize he held. He and the troop Byakuya organized for the trip smiled.

"Yes, sir." They followed their captain and king through the gate.

On the other side was a different world. Literally. Old styled buildings and people in traditional clothes from their home country made up the entire place. Ukitake immediately started for the captain meeting room. They all flash stepped after him.

Twenty minutes later all the captains and their vice captains stood in two straight lines, facing the opposite line. At the way end stood Yamamoto the captain commander. Renji had been here before. It was about his eighth. The other captains and vices still wowed him though. Each of them seemed to be from different species. Yamato was a death god. One of the vice's was a cyborg. There was even a fairy and some kind of wolf man.

"The Captains' Meeting has now begun," Yamamoto said. His voice was clear of any submission, fear, even urgency. It was nothing but steel. Byakuya knew better though. His eyes… they lacked that kind of sturdiness. This was a little bit worse than he thought.

"I have been well aware of the hallow situation. However, some of you have already found leads."

Byakuya feel a twinge of guilt. He poured some of his most powerful soldiers into searching for Rukia… He should have known. Get rid of the hallows and she wouldn't have disappeared in the first place.

"Kenpachi Zaraki." The human captain grunted in response.

"How is the human world?"

"Eh? More hallows each day…as usual. They're pathetic though. Couldn't even put up a fight."

"Yup!" The pink haired Yachiru popped up from behind Zaraki. She was effortlessly clinging onto his shoulder. "Ken-chan took them out in seconds! Can we go somewhere else? I heard Bya-kun is getting a lot!" She turned to Byakuya with a huge grin. No one noticed Byakuya's vein pop.

The meeting went on like that for the most part. Hallows appeared. The captains stopped them. But Yamamoto finally cut to the important part: leads.

"According to the number of incidences, the hallows should be a tremendous deal right in _Scientia_." Everyone turned to Aizen. He, a scientist, only sighed before replying.

"I'm not sure of the problem's cause, but it difficult to find. The neighboring cities, villages, etc, have been suffering. But Scientia itself… I can't explain it, but there are no incidences. It's like hallows don't even exist there." He looked down sadly as if apologizing for his lack of knowledge for the situation. **(AN: don't worry. I'm not making the fairy dou-*cough, cough*… **_**jerk**_** a good guy.) **Hinamori Momo, a half human/phoenix, spoke up.

"I believe there's some kind of repellent. Like a barrier. Maybe some kind of thing the hallows hate and are trying to get rid of. That's why they come close to Scientia, but won't dare to set a foot in…"

"But what if they find out how to destroy what's keeping them out?" the half human/ice dragon Hitsugaya Toshiro asked.

"Scientia does have a reliable boarder defense. Almost all the populated places inside it have their own gate. Maybe we could use Scientia as a safe haven for the other regions' inhabitants." Aizen suggested. The captain commander took a moment to consider this.

"We shouldn't do anything risky. If the hallows start invading Scientia while people from other regions take safety there, it will be too populated for the guards to protect them," Byakuya didn't want Rukia's situation to multiply.

"Very well," Yamamoto started again. "Each region will put up their best to protect their own land and people. Sōsuke Aizen, Kuchiki Byakuya, and Shunsui Kyōraku will investigate Scientia's significance. The Captains' Meeting has now ended."

* * *

_-poing,poing-_

"_Unfortunately I don't recall any type of moisturizing product that would fit your concerns… I am however working on a-" Urahara couldn't finish as the bird doll interjected. That weird, sneaky, merchant smile was not helping her feel any more comfortable. _

"_No, no, no, no, no, no, _no_! Uh, I meant, that's fine. Just fine… I'll just go now so you could finish and test that project of yours without being disturbed…" Ririn walked slowly, backwards to the door. She stuttered a quick 'thank you' then ran out the door. _

"I guess I'm stuck here. Unless you guys have some kind of house at the beach…" Rukia looked slightly troubled as Ririn gave out her news.

"We do have this particular shack, but it's right in the open and on the opposite end of the island from here. It'll take about an hour even if you sprint. We don't have a horse, much less a carriage. Don't even get me started on its condition. I doubt it's that stable." Ririn sadly shook her head.

"Then what about that guy?" Kon asked out of the blue.

"Huh? Oh, the healer? I've been hearing about this excellent doctor who arrived on the island about a year ago… The villagers take a huge liking to her. Whenever I'm in town, there's some kind of talk about her."

"So do you know where she lives?" He asked.

"No… but rumor has it that she'll be attending school this year." Ririn jumped onto a chair that stood next to the wall. On the wall was a map and next to that was a calendar.

"I overhead that she'll be going to the public school. Karakura High." She ran her finger across the calendar's page as she went through the month. "We should catch her before school starts… That way she could do whatever she needs whenever."

"What about her name? What does she look like?" Kon jumped up next to her. "We don't exactly have the time to search every single house."

"I'll go back to the store. I found a place on one of the shelves to listen to people and not get caught."

"Then I'll go ask Yoruichi-san for help… Where ever she is." He turned to Rukia to explain. "Yoruichi should be on your phone. She's a friend of Urahara and us. Usually she's around every corner in the shop, but… these past weeks, she's barely anywhere on the island. It might take a while to get to her."

"Thank you." He and Ririn looked at her. "Thank you for all this." She rubbed her eyes to keep the tears from falling. Ururu smiled and hugged her.

"We'll get you home. Promise," she assured the mermaid. Rukia shivered a little then sneezed. "But let's get you better first."

* * *

-_meanwhile_-

Renji watched as Byakuya finished a little more paperwork. As vice-captain, Renji would be the one taking charge the most while Byakuya searched Scientia. In a couple minutes the king would be gone.

Byakuya then rose. A couple of guards opened his office's doors for him. Renji straightened and tried his best leader face as Byakuya walked past. He stopped though.

Right as Byakuya was about to pass him, he stopped. They looked in the totally opposite directions, but didn't turn at all.

"She will be found. We will find her… and protect her." Byakuya then walked straight out of the office. Not turning back for even a glance. Not faltering in his poster. In seconds, he was gone. Renji was left in the room by himself. For the tenth time that day, he let out a huge, secretly held breath.

* * *

Sum: Orihime meets Shirosaki Kyo. Rukia faces another problem (dying from drying out). Ichigo and Orihime work together to help someone. Scientia, a region, is introduce and Byakuya is one of three captains sent to investigate it. Renji is forced to help take the king's place temporarily.

* * *

Author's Note: Ahem... *cough, cough*... EXCUSE ME!

Many of you have probably just joined reading this story. And some of you've probably already given up on it because of that update date that claims I've been a writer's block victim and failure... That's why I'm asking if someone wanted to join me! Not like a full time co-writer but just someone with really good writing tips to keep me from doing stupid things like getting timing off or something... I only need about one or two people to help me, so if you'd like, come talk to me. It'd be great if someone with experience and a couple of stories of their own (so that I could learn from them more easily) to speak up. No pressure... just hoping for some extra help.

Ps: I've already said this as a review in this story's review section. I wasn't sure if I got the message across so I'm just repeating it.

Happy Thanksgiving! (^w^)/


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